Happy Fifth Anniversary!

English: A butterfly, in Pome county, Tibet. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Today is, according to WordPress, and WordPress should know, the exact day 5 years ago when The SloMan signed up at WordPress and stared at the screen thinking “What is this blog thing and how do you go about blogging?”
Since that day, 5 years ago, The SloMan has seen much activity. Over 2 years ago, he merged his original blog, The SloMan Wonders into the blog run by his alterego, The LastWord, called, mysteriously, AjeshTheLastWord. Together they created SloWord which is the blog you see before you, it’s post turned towards your face. Since that time, The SloMan, has slowly receded into the background as The LastWord takes on a more prominent role in the maintenance of this blog.
Think of The SloMan as the official face of The LastWord, the pompous face, the subtler face, the more incomprehensible face. There are some differences in the two styles, The SloMan preferring to write in the third person, for instance. Today, on this 5th anniversary, it may help to explore the two personalities and their contributions and explore their progress over the years.
First, let’s take The SloMan:
His early years were learning what blogging is / was and exploration of style and substance and balance thereof within a blog post were invaluable to The LastWord. Indeed, to the PeevedPunjabi, LeggieLefty and Unclejee too.
2008: The SloMan’s first ever blog post on WordPress was this pithy 2-liner.
2009: By November of 2009, The SloMan was showing signs of comfort in this post about H1N1 which made some subtle points about conspiracy theories.
2010: Comfort in posting led to this tongue-in-cheek nod to an adolescent time before t-shirt bras became the norm.
2011: The SloMan was writing about politics in India, showing a higher level of commitment to the post, thinking deeper and displaying writing that explored issues in greater depth. There are one or two posts that stand out. An anguished post about the state of affairs in the world and this other post.
2012: Early in the year, The SloMan wrote about the Grammy Awards and by late in the year he was making his feelings felt about the US Presidential race which was, according to him all about Race.
2013: The SloMan wrote about the inexplicable, to him. People, or types of people who left him bewildered, in this piece.
2014: Showing a renewed sense of purpose we find this satirical post about the blogosphere and blogizens that inhabit it. Given the bulk of the commemorative posts these days, he wrote about a 30th Wedding Anniversary. These 2 posts show us how The SloMan’s style is more closely aligned to the others on the blog as he borrows heavily from the PeevedPunjabi in the former and The LastWord in the anniversary post.
2015: This post here is The SloMan’s only post this year.
The LastWord has taken on the lion’s share of the writing on this blog, with The SloMan and the PeevedPunjabi taking occasional duties. Let’s take a look at his evolution. The LastWord started with “portry”. At the very beginning he didn’t seem able to break out of non-prose mode.
2010: Three out of 5 posts were poems. This early sad romance, followed by this amusing bit of nothing to a cops-and-gangsters-story-turned-pome.
2011: June of the year saw the very first autobiographical writing on the post, a nostalgic look at childhood. 6 Posts this year also gave us 3 about The SloMan’s quiz, a limerick and another sad romantic pome.
2012: The year didn’t really see any contribution from the LastWord until mid-year. A total of 7 posts and for the first time the prose overtook the pomes. There was a post about Writer’s Block, a pome about an unraveling relationship, a facetious pome about Facebook. Also, to be seen was the LastWord’s contribution to his college alumni magazine, his reading habits and a look back at the death of his father within the context of their relationship.
2013: This was a big year for memoirs for The LastWord. 19 / 32 blog posts from him were memories from his life. The first bad date, the second equally bad date, how he met his Beloved Bangalan, dead bodies at night, his experience as a newly wed, bad cats, a memorable school reunion and stories about the his start in business leading up to the birth of his first son. He also explored who he was, and why he blogs.
2014: This was the biggest year yet, with 38 posts from The LastWord, 20 of them being memoirs. These included stories about peeping toms, prohibition, a recording of a song sung and played by him, a horrific series on his trip to Nepal, how he quit smoking and finally a look back at a brother’s life 20 years after his passing.English: The Peeping Tom public house, Burton Green, Warwickshire. Taken by Necrothesp, 12 June 2005. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
2015: Fifteen posts already! A mixed bag of blog updates ( 6 of them actually, including the news of the departure of LeggieLefty. ) Completion of the Normandy Notes, a sweet delicacy, some writing tips and personal issues with the The Big O and doing the dishes.
If you have the patience to scan through the progressions listed, you may see progress, then again, it may all be a blur.
Do let The SloMan know, if you do read, how you felt at the end of it. A bit like being put through a spin cycle, he imagines!

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Well, happy fifth anniversary! It is pretty neat how you’ve broken all this down so minutely so that those of us that have just recently discovered you can follow your journey. Here’s hoping that you have another five grand years ahead (and more after that!)

Isn’t it amazing how a blog begins, like we’re wading in shallow water attempting to go deeper.
Putting words on paper lightens your heart.
Congratulations on all of yours you bravely placed on the page.

Congratulations on five years of blogging and for reviewing the journey so far. I never ceased to be impressed by the different personae you manage on it. For the longest time I thought it was a group blog with different people contributing!

Happy five years of blogging! I see I have a LOT of content to wade through before I can begin appreciating the progress, but i’ll take your word for it 😀 Wish you many more years of fulfilling writing.

It must have been a beautiful travel experience with the writer you have been to the writer you are now, after 5 years. You inspire me to do a similar journey as I completed 5 too just a week before you did. Well, if only time can permit me 🙁 Best wishes for all the inspiring write ups that are in store for here.

Yeah we grow, hoepfully we learn, we evolve. However, one of the learnings is that the basic core style does not change all that much. You develop layers around the core and it becomes more appealing, more developed, more confident, but the core is who you are.
Thanks